Double disaster threatens East India

Authorities in East India struggled to maintain social distancing yesterday while evacuating people ahead of a “super cyclone,” Associated Press reports. Forecasters expect Cyclone Amphan to make landfall this afternoon in West Bengal or Bangladesh.

Bibles For The World partners with local believers to serve communities in northeast India, providing healthcare, education, and the Gospel. Keep praying for the ministry’s hospital staff as they make COVID-19 preparations. Bibles For The World works in Manipur, where officials confirmed four new cases over the weekend.

Last month, Bibles For The World President John Pudaite described some of the challenges hospital staff encountered during the early stages of preparation. “We were putting together the isolation ward, and [now] we’ve started to put together an ICU. God has blessed us with some donors who have responded very strongly to that [need],” Pudaite says.

“We want to thank all of the listeners [and readers] out there who joined us in prayer and support.”

Help India in Jesus’ name

To prevent an outbreak, Indian officials ordered the world’s largest shutdown in March. However, as Business Insider reports, those restrictions triggered an economic backlash. Experts predict India’s GDP will drop five percent by the end of this fiscal year – it’s the country’s harshest reduction in 41 years.

Pudaite says people already feel economic pain. “People are getting out and looking for work, looking for food…and finding a lot of shortages. Along with that, there’s cost escalation. Some of the prices of things have gone up 50- to 80-percent,” he says.

“Most of these folks, even though they’re employed by the mission or the church, are still trying to manage [a] family on less than $150 a month.”

“The missionaries, the pastors, and the workers in the Christian schools and Christian hospital that have been serving – we want them to be strong at this time as they’re serving the unreached and those who are even needier,” Pudaite says.

More than 500 believers serve in Bibles For The World’s schools, hospitals, and seminary, he adds, while 320 serve in the indigenous Church as pastors, missionaries, and support staff.

“We want to empower our people, our workers in the field to reach out with God’s Word, God’s light, and God’s love at this time.”